Humanitarian logistics is a major factor for the success of humanitarian operations, making use of a broad range of infrastructure and resources in highly unstable and volatile environments. Due to the need for accuracy and timeliness, the information must be updated and related to the real variables of the affected area. In this context, volunteered geographic information (VGI), providedby loc...

We study incentive alignment for the coordination of operations in humanitarian settings. Our research focuses on transportation, the second largest overhead cost to humanitarian organizations after personnel. Motivated by field research, we study the fleet size problem from a managerial perspective. In terms of transportation, an equity focused agent (the Humanitarian Program) has private info...

METHODS The evaluation tool was first derived from the formerly Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies' (CBHA; United Kingdom), now "Start Network's," Core Humanitarian Competency Framework and formatted in an electronic data capture tool that allowed for offline evaluation. During a 3-day humanitarian simulation event, participants in teams of eight to 10 were evaluated individually at mu...

The number of people employed in international humanitarian care is growing at a yearly rate of 6%. The demand for better coordination, accountability, and training has led to a need for standardized humanitarian training programs for providers. Training should be based on comprehensive core competencies that providers must demonstrate in addition to their skill-specific competencies. This repo...

The ability to monitor assistance, define humanitarian needs, and approach equity in the distribution of assistance has lagged behind the world's growing commitment to responding to humanitarian emergencies. This article highlights relevant data sources to elucidate elements of an operational definition of humanitarian need. New and refined measures are proposed to assist in assessing the level...

Research on performance measurement in humanitarian supply chains is scant. Experiences with developing performance measures in commercial environments show that it is particularly important to understand linkages between higher level goals and performance measurement, for example through using strategy maps in for-profit organisations or mission maps in non-profit organisations. In this articl...

INTRODUCTION This paper aims to raise awareness regarding ethical issues in the context of humanitarian action, and to offer a framework for systematically and effectively addressing such issues. METHODS Several cases highlight ethical issues that humanitarian aid workers are confronted with at different levels over the course of their deployments. The first case discusses a situation at a ma...

The concept of protecting civilians in armed conflict is enshrined in international humanitarian law and widely acknowledged in humanitarian norms. Making this concept operational in humanitarian service delivery is a challenge. Yet, there are many ways in which humanitarian workers could learn from local people about underlying tensions in their community and with these new insights adjust ser...

The literature on evidence-based action in humanitarian crises commonly focuses on how inter-and non-governmental organisations can produce better knowledge and how this can be translated into improved programming. Yet, there is little recorded experience of, or concern about, how the beneficiaries of humanitarian relief can produce and use knowledge of their predicament. This paper is based on...

Cities are fast becoming new territories of violence. The humanitarian consequences of many criminally violent urban settings are comparable to those of more traditional wars, yet despite the intensity of the needs, humanitarian aid to such settings is limited. The way in which humanitarian needs are typically defined, fails to address the problems of these contexts, the suffering they produce ...